1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a newly isolated lytic bacteriophage, particularly to a newly isolated lytic bacteriophage against Klebsiella pneumoniae. 
2. Description of the Related Art
Klebsiella pneumoniae, belonging to the family of Enterobacteriaceae, is a gram-negative bacterium widely found in the normal flora of the intestinal and respiratory tracts of humans. However, the K. pneumoniae is also a significant opportunistic pathogen, usually causing severe diseases such as septicemia and pneumonia in immunocompromised individuals or nosocomial patients. Generally, the clinical K. pneumoniae infections are primary characteristics of liver necrosis, multiple cavities and edema, and are usually accompanied by symptoms like chest pain, cough, and even respiratory failure in serious cases. In recent decades, an increasing amount of K. pneumoniae infected patients in Taiwan have developed serious complications of pyogenic liver abscess, metastatic meningitis and endophthalmitis, particular to diabetes mellitus and chronic respiratory cases. In these situations, even if given proper treatment, most patients still struggle against the annoying complications and high mortality risk.
Traditionally, the treatment of the K. pneumoniae infections is mainly based on antibiotics, such as aminoglycosides (including gentamicin, tobramycin and amikacin) and cephalosporins. Nevertheless, due to multiple occurrences of K. pneumoniae strains currently, the therapy of K. pneumoniae infections has become more difficult and essential. Thus, it is crucial for clinical medicine to develop a new therapy for patients who suffer from drug-resistant strains and serious complications, in order to substitute the antibiotics treatment for controlling the K. pneumoniae infections.
An alternative therapeutic strategy is bacteriophage treatment, which involves providing bacteriophages against the related bacterial infection. This type of treatment has no risk of drug-resistance or abuse of antibiotics. In general, the bacteriophages will specifically infect the target bacteria, reproduce in the target bacteria and release from them, leading to serious damage to the target bacteria. Through the bacteriophage treatment, the therapy of bacterial infections can be achieved more economically, effectively and safely.
Although bacteriophage therapy has been widely applied to treat various bacterial infections, it is reported that most bacteriophages show narrow host range and specifically infection to particular bacteria only; therefore, the isolated bacteriophage nowadays may not be beneficial to treat K. pneumoniae infections. As a result, regarding the severe K. pneumoniae infections and its complications in Taiwan, there is an urgent need of isolating a new strain of bacteriophage for specifically inhibiting the invasive strain of K. pneumoniae in Taiwan.